When scholars at University of California, Berkeley, recently released a study finding that low wages in the
fast food industry cost taxpayers $7 billion every year in
social supports to subsidize salaries of low-income workers, they ran
into a respectable-sounding opponent. The professors had argued that the
minimum wage should be increased to relieve the burden on taxpayers who
underwrite supersize restaurant industry profits.
Richard Berman (Credit: CBS News)
But as the bona fide academic study rolled out, multiple media
outlets ran comments criticizing the report’s numbers and methodology
from the scholarly sounding “Employment Policies Institute.” The
Austin Business Journal characterized EPI as a think tank “which studies employment growth,” while the
Miami Herald ran a quote from Michael Saltsman, whom the paper named as EPI’s “research director.”
For his part, Saltsman ran aggressive Op-Eds against any minimum wage increase in papers such as the
the Missoulian, where he was described as EPI’s “research fellow.” In an Op-Ed he wrote for the
Washington Post,
his title was listed as EPI’s “research director” but with a notation
that EPI “receives funding from restaurants, among other sources.” But
even this partial disclosure provides a disservice to readers in the
nation’s capital.
In fact, the Employment Policies Institute
operates from the same office suite as Berman and Co., a
public relations firm owned by Richard Berman. This
is not an opinion; it’s a fact anyone can verify by viewing EPI and
Berman and Co.’s websites. In such a depressed media environment —
where there are four public relations flacks for every reporter,
compared to a 1-to-1 ratio in the 1960s – it is not surprising that a
P.R. company could successfully rebrand itself as a think tank and
capitalize on an acronym held by an actual think tank, the Economic
Policy Institute, with 20 staff and 36 respected research associates.
At the
Center for Media and Democracy,
we have spent 20 years tracking disinformation and spin, and Richard
Berman has long been one of our favorite research subjects. Berman came
out of the restaurant industry, spending several years as a top
executive at Steak and Ale before launching Berman and Co. to help
advocate for corporate America. His clients have included tobacco
companies (for which he formed an entity he called the Center for
Consumer Freedom) and the soda makers (for which he created the American
Beverage Institute). He was once profiled on a “60 Minutes” piece
titled “Dr. Evil.” But one of his most successful products has been the
Employment Policies Institute.
EPI regularly opines in the press on a host of topics. Recently it
has been working to show that restaurant workers don’t need higher wages
or paid sick days, but few Americans are informed by the press that
this “think tank” is just one or two individuals working for spinmeister
Berman, likely on a contract for the restaurant industry.
We recently analyzed three years of newspaper stories from across the country that quoted from EPI or Michael Saltsman.
In 83 percent of the stories we examined, reporters provided readers
with no information about EPI’s relationship with Berman and Co. In most
cases, journalists stated that EPI is a “Washington DC nonprofit” and
called Saltsman a “research director.” In some instances, reporters took
tentative steps in the right direction and called EPI “conservative” or
“pro-business.” Only about 3 percent of the time did they correctly
link EPI to Berman and Co.
Failing to note EPI’s role as an arm of Berman and Co. fools readers
into thinking it is a legitimate and independent voice in national
politics. In 37 percent of stories we found reporters tapped EPI to
counter positions by government experts or politicians; in 39 percent
EPI was used to counter policy experts at nonprofits; and 22 percent of
the time, EPI was used as a counterpoint to academics at American
universities.
Certainly corporations have a right to have their voice heard, but
that voice should be their own, not that of a phony expert on retainer.
© 2013 Salon
Lisa Graves is Executive Director of the Center for Media and
Democracy, the publisher of PRWatch.org, SourceWatch.org, and
BanksterUSA.org. She formerly served as Deputy Assistant Attorney
General in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice,
as Chief Counsel for Nominations for the U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee, and as Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the
U.S. Courts.
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